By Brendan Rees
Personal stories of ordinary Australians told through their photographs, letters and diaries are coming to Cranbourne Library.
To commemorate the centenary of World War I, Cranbourne Library will present a special touring exhibition from the State Library.
Writing the War: personal stories from WWI tells the story of Australia’s involvement in WWI through the eyes of seven ordinary Australians – a teacher, nurse, bank clerk, farmer, journalist, artist and an activist.
Attendees can gain a personal understanding of the war experience through their letters, diaries, published writing and photographs, from private correspondence with anxious families and friends back home, to powerful outcries about the war effort. Gain female perspectives on the horrors from the frontlines and see everyday life as a soldier captured on camera.
Keynote speaker at the launch will be Lambis Englezos AM, the Greek-born Australian teacher responsible for discovering mass war graves of some 250 lost Australian soldiers in the disastrous Battle of Fromelles, 1916. Mr Englezos will deliver a moving presentation about his journey supported by images of the mass grave sites and those lost soldiers whose families now know what happened to them.
The exhibition features some incredible memorabilia with both prominent and ordinary Australians giving an insight into WWI that is both immediate and intimate because it is told in their own words, some of which helped shape public opinion about the war effort – Sir Keith Murdoch’s Gallipoli letter or the writing of pacifist Vida Goldstein. Some were never intended to be read in public, like the diaries of George Auchterlonie which remained in his family’s possession for more than 70 years.
Cranbourne Library will be hosting several companion events before the exhibition closes on 7 December, including two author talks.
Award-winning biographer, Dr Ross McMullin will chat about the extraordinary and forthright letters and diaries that feature in his latest book Pompey Elliott At War: In His Own Words; while Michael Madden shares his writing journey in The Victoria Cross Australia Remembers, which covers VC graves, the Western Front and his invitation by the Queen to view the prototype VC.
There will be a workshop on research and writing about military ancestors; entertainer Marg Dennis and her toe-tapping musical tribute ‘Lest We Forget’, a military treasure hunt for the kids, and the Narre Warren and District Family History Group with CCL’s Local History Officer’s invitation to a drop-in session, ‘Find Your Soldier’.
This prestigious exhibition will be officially opened at Cranbourne Library by Federal Member for Holt Anthony Byrne with Casey Cardinia Libraries’ CEO, Chris Buckingham on Thursday 9 November at 2pm.For more information, visit http://www.cclc.vic.gov.au or www.slv.vic.gov.au/writing-the-war
